•••

     "hailee?" sophia said, poking at the girl. hailees eyes opened slowly, the bright morning light blinding her. she had fallen asleep shortly after the movie had ended, and as she became aware of where she was her mind traveled back to her thoughts from last night.

     "hey," hailee responded, sitting up. she rubbed her eyes, glanced around, and realized that sadie and millie were missing. "good morning. where's sadie and millie?"

     "they're upstairs getting ready." sophia said, smiling a little. "the boys decided to come to sadies today, instead of millies. you're more than welcome to join us."

     "oh," hailee said. "um- i don't know-"

     "hailee's up!" a voice exclaimed from the catwalk. hailee looked up, seeing millie smiling at the two girls. soon coming into view was sadie, who smiled, too.

     "mornin'!" sadie practically yelled.

     "yeah, thanks, you too." hailee said grumpily.

     "come on, let's get ready!" millie exclaimed.

     "wha-" hailee began to reply, although sophia grabbed her hands, pulling her up and dragged her upstairs.

     "you're hanging out with us today." sadie stated.

     "but-"

     "no!" sadie exclaimed. "no buts! you're hanging out with us whether you like it or not."

     hailee rolled her eyes at her best friend, before pulling her clothes out of her bag. "i'm not, but whatever."

•••

     the clock hit six o'clock, the time hailee dreaded. either they would arrive any second, or arrive soon. of course she knew they were nice boys, but she had only just warmed up to millie and sophia. how was she supposed to do it with ten other people?

     "they're late!" millie yelled from the living room.

     "yeah, we know!" sophia yelled back. "i can read dumbass!"

     "okay, that wasn't very nice to say." millie said. hailee chuckled slightly at their words. she couldn't see them, considering she was sitting in sadies bedroom, but she knew millie would be making a fake sad expression. a knock was placed on the doorframe, and hailee look up to see sadie appear.

     "hey," sadie said, quietly. "you okay? you've been awfully quiet for the past hour."

     "yeah, i'm okay." hailee lied.

     "you sure?" sadie pressed.

     "yep." hailee replied, popping the p.

     "you're my best friend, hailee," sadie sighed, walking into the room and sitting next to her on the bed. you can tell me anything."

     "i know," she responded. "i just want you to be able to hang out with your friends and have fun."

     "well you're my best-est friend, hailee. i wouldn't want to without you." sadie smiled. hailee smiled a bit too.

     "right." she chuckled.

     right as sadie was about to reply, the doorbell rang.

     "oh they're here!" millie yelled.

     "oh fun." sadie sighed. "come on."

     sadie jumped up off the bed and skipped out of the door. hailee sighed, she didn't want to disappoint her best friend. she slowly stood up and made her way to the doorway, she could hear voices echo immediately.

     "shut up, finn!" one said.

     "no." someone replied, who she assumed was finn.

     "you guys are immature." another said.

     "okay boomer."

     "merry christmas."

     "i'm jewish!"

     "shut up!"

     hailee couldn't help but giggle at the words. millie and sophia weren't kidding. she walked quietly, not wanting to draw attention to herself. when she reached the top of the stairs, she could finally see everyone. although one person caught her eye.

     jaeden.

     after all, the thought of him hadn't left her mind since last night. her thoughts began to wander as her gaze was locked on the boy, who was smiling while talking to his friends. however she soon realized she was staring when his eyes met hers.

     he smiled softly at her and she looked away embarrassed. she felt her face heat up, her cheeks flushing a soft pink. she glanced back to find his eyes still on her. although instead of looking away, she smiled back. this made his face turn a light pink as well.

     "hey, come on." sadie announced. all eyes were drawn to the blonde at the top of the stairs. "please?"

     hailee didn't reply, but instead she slowly and awkwardly walked down the stairs. she stopped on the bottom step, leaning against the railing.

     "you guys remember hailee, right?" sophia asked.

     "yeah," jaeden replied. "of course."

     hailee smiled slightly at the boys words.

     "aw, goals." one said. "i'm finn, incase you forgot."

     "and i'm jack!" the boy next to finn said. they were quite the duo in IT, she recognized them as richie and eddie. she of course also recognized finn as mike from stranger things.

     the rest of the boys introduced themselves, and hailee remembered meeting them before. she was quite surprised that they had actually wanted to talk to her, considering she hadn't been very welcoming to them in the past.

     "we were thinking of going into town later and looking at shops for the holidays." noah explained as the group spread into sadies living room, and kitchen.

     "yeah and noah wants more excuses to tell us he's a jew." wyatt replied, walking past hailee to hit noah's arm.

     "i- no! that literally has nothing to do with this." noah practically yelled.

     "stop yelling, noah." jeremy called from the living room.

     "i'm not yelling!" noah responded, yelling once more.

     "you literally just did, but go off, i guess." sophia said. noah put his hands on his hips and gave sophia a look of disappointment.

     "well what do you guys want to do?" gaten asked, walking into the kitchen.

     "anything works." sadie shrugged.

     "what about you, hailee?" noah asked.

     "yeah, what do you want to do?" millie asked.

     "oh- um..." she answered. she grew nervous as all eyes in the kitchen were drawn to her. "i-um i don't care."

     "we could watch a few movies and then head out." jaeden suggested, walking into the kitchen. hailee glanced at him as he walked up to the kitchen island, before he continued speaking. "or the other way around."

     "yeah, that works." gaten agreed.

     "then let's get going!" finn yelled walking into the kitchen. "we don't have all night ladies!"

•••

     walking along the freezing streets of philadelphia, hailee was farther behind the group. even after insisting that she just stayed at sadies house, they had managed to drag her along.

     she was walking with her head down, watching her feet create more footsteps in the snow. she glanced up to see the group far ahead of her. she sighed, not even caring about how far behind she was. she shivered from how cold it was, the fresh snow falling sure didn't help.

     she admired the scenery around her. with the snow falling and glistening under the moonlight and stars, the street lights lit up with beautiful christmas lights, and the faint sound of christmas music from stores. she smiled slightly at how happy it made her. she was so focused on the scenery, she didn't even notice the person who had decided to walk with her.

     "hey," they said, grabbing hailees attention. "you seemed pretty lonely back here."

     "oh- um," she replied, her face flushing from embarrassment. "i guess?"

     jaeden chuckled lightly.

     "it's fine, don't be embarrassed." he said. "anyways, do you have any movie recommendations for later? we couldn't decide."

     "christmas movies?" she asked sheepishly.

     "of course!" jaeden exclaimed happily as the smile grew on hailees face.

     "then i'm going to have to say home alone, or elf." hailee said, beaming at the boy. he was extremely happy to have gotten her to smile.

     "hey love birds!" jack yelled. hailee raised an eyebrow at the boy, confused as to what he meant. although, jaeden knew exactly what he was talking about. jaeden rolled his eyes. "stop flirting and catch up!"

     "we're not flirting! nor are we in love!" jaeden yelled back.

     "yeah, not yet!" finn yelled.

     "yeah, come on, jaeden, we talked about this." wyatt said.

     "oh?" hailee said, as they approached the group.

     "shut up." jaeden said, rolling his eyes at them. the boys began laughing at him as sophia, sadie, millie, and hailee stood confused.

     "whatever, let's get movies and snacks and head back." millie said.

•••

A/N...
and so it begins 😌